Over 1 million unlocked iPhone running on T-Mobile USA

Seth Weintraub over at 9to5Mac heard from a T-Mobile USA spokesman that their network is already home to over 1 million iPhones, and this is without the benefit of an Apple contract, T-Mobile supplied micro-SIMs, or support for their AWS 3G/4G bands. That means, right now, there are over a million people willing to jailbreak and unlock, or buy an unlocked model, manually cut their SIM cards, and go 2G EDGE only just to be on T-Mo with their iPhones.

There have been rumors that iPhone 5 would support T-Mobile's AWS HSPA and HSPA+ bands, and AT&T is trying to buy T-Mobile and if that goes through, it probably means iPhones for everyone.

If a million customers are willing to go to the effort of doing it on their own, how many would go iPhone if it was officially offered?

I had T-Mobile once. Back when VoiceStream still existed a I got a VisorPhone. VoiceStream was bought by T-Mobile and when I was ready to upgrade I went thru the Treo line until the iPhone came out. I went off T-Mobile when I got a great deal on the Treo 650 from, of all places, Earthlink, when they tried an experimental cell phone service. T-Mobile wasn't offering the 650 for some reason. I liked their service, just not their phones.

Cool thing about t-mo is that you can use att phones and keep down data costs by only using edge. If you aren't desperate for higher speeds, this winds up working really well. And, if you ever need to use att, your phone will work fine lol.

My 3GS was unlocked for T-Mobile and it was officially the worst service provider I ever had. Very rarely did I have more than 1-2 signal bars (pre-iOS 4.0.1), in the bar I would drop calls even though I was near a window, and if I wasn't on Wifi forget about downloading anything. I couldn't have been happier when I switched to AT&T and saw the "3G" logo (even though that's been slow lately). Overall many tweaks would need to be made with either the hardware or the network in order for an iPhone to function at 100% on T-Mobile. I hope the buyout helps..

The buy out would be disastrous for people who want a good GSM carrier in the US. Did you ever think that maybe T-Mo just isn't good in your area? There's nothing wrong with choosing to pay more for service when it is the better service in your area...that doesn't mean the rest of us want to be stuck with AT&T, who hate their customers so much they make them buy little cell towers to fix coverage gaps lol.

T-Mobile works great in my southern California area. I would not be a 2G/3G/3GS user if AT&T was my only choice. Data usage is mostly email and the occasional tether while traveling, so 3G speeds is no problem.

Got the iPhone 3G the day the jailbreak team released their unlock and have been an iPhone user on T-Mobile ever since.
AT&T had no coverage here in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. It was such a problem that all my neighbors found out what I was doing and did the same. It was a regular T-Mobile iPhone community.
Sometimes I wish I had 3G speeds (and the ability to talk and surf when on the cellular network) and it'd be fun to have visual voicemail. But, that stuff isn't really important to me. Plus, I'm rarely ever without wi-fi.
One of the things I do enjoy is having a $58 monthly iPhone bill. :-)
I'm sure that monthly bill is going to go up when AT&T buys T-Mobile though.
Honestly, it's just about having coverage where you need it. Ironically, I was with AT&T prior to the iPhone launch ( i had a Treo 650) and life was good. Then, they sold the cell tower that was near me to T-Mobile. I went from 5 bars down to 0 or 1. And that's what started my journey with T-Mobile.

This is also true; AT&T's reception up in the Hollywood Hills/Malibu area does tend to be seriously lacking. I'm on AT&T and I'm lucky to get 1 or 2 bars up there. Good thing I don't go up there often enough for it to be a major issue for me.

AT&T's prices aren't worth the slim difference in features. It really only comes down to coverage for most people, considering that most people who own smartphones still don't even use them the way they were intended. Unless you're in the boonies, you most likely have wifi available, and I find myself resorting to using my Macbook for more tasks just because I like the traditional web feel. The iPhone's maps, mail, browser all suck in comparison to the natural (desktop) web versions of those sites. The mobile side of it is only good for how quickly you can get the info you're looking for; if only it were as easy as using a desktop/laptop.

Not necessarily; just don't be on the phone too long, and make sure you have good reception. Having poor reception kills your battery quicker, because the phone's radio has to work harder to pull in a signal. I use voice + data on AT&T often (and used it when I was on T-Mo too) and battery life hasn't been an issue for me.

Lots of people use simultaneous voice & data. I use it fairly often; it comes in really handy at times, e.g. when someone calls and asks for directions to somewhere, and I can just go into Google Maps during the call and tell them directions to get there. So simultaneous voice & data is something I consider absolutely essential on any carrier I use. I'd never go to any carrier that didn't have it. I didn't think it was that big a deal either at first, until I actually started using it.

3GS on T-Mobile for quite a while. For me it has nothing to do with coverage, everything to do with price. (coverage per network varies all over the place). It's the cheap plans and the $10 (or less) unlimited data that got me there instead of the mother ship (ATT). If the merger/purchase happens, my $10 unlimited date (Edge or not) goes bye-bye. (sniff)

If you're on contract, your price should stay the same. If AT&T changes pricing on T-Mo customers who are absorbed into their fold, they'll have the chance to get out (contracts are binding, after all).

In San Diego, my 3GS works better on T-Mo than it did on AT&T.
I never got any benefit from 3G on AT&T, it had to be disabled or it would drop every other call (and wasn't fast anyway).
Plus T-Mo pricing is realistic.

That 1 million sounds like a pretty conservative estimate, as I've been seeing people with iPhones on T-Mobile left and right. Apparently they don't mind being limited to Edge, for now. They just wanted the iPhone, but didn't want AT&T (which I can understand, as having choice/options is always a good thing). So there's definitely a market for it. I used to be on T-Mobile, and loved their customer service, and the plan I was on (Even More Plus). I would've stayed with them if their coverage and reception would've been better in my area (southern CA/L.A. area).

I had t-mobile & ATT and Tmobile does not have better coverage than ATT. They might have less dropped calls but that is probably due to the fact that they hardly have coverage everywhere. Just look at the coverage map and don't lie to yourself. #1 is Verizon, 2nd ATT, then T-mobile & Sprint.

Sprint, I'm sure beats AT&T as they share some frequency with Verizon and have free roaming.
They have great coverage where I live (northeast) .
"They might have less dropped calls but that is probably due to the fact that they hardly have coverage everywhere."
What?

But, they are awesome wherever they have good signal. If you live in one of those areas where AT&T and T-Mo have to compete, they both have good customer service lol. Also, you know no one is a bigger penny pincher than the rich man; look at the scrooge ;-)

I bought an iPhone 2G before the first unlock was even official. I now use a 3GS, my wife uses a 3G, and my Dad uses my original 2G, all on T-Mobile.
The service is not an issue in San Diego. I stream high quality Pandora all the way to work and back with no drop outs over EDGE, and I don't have dropped calls. The best part is the cost; 3 iPhones, 2 Unlimited Data plans, and Unlimited Texting for everyone on the family plan for $80 a month. Unbeatable.

You can get unlimited data on T-Mo for an iPhone at $10 per phone per month if the SIM you're using started out in a feature phone; I'm guessing that is how he did it.
Honestly, I have wifi available so often, I'm paying the $10 a month just for the 250 MB. I don't usually come close to that limit, since Edge is so slow ;-) though I kinda like that fact.

I was using my iPhone 3GS on T-Mo until I went and bought my GSM Palm Pre 2, unlocked. I can't imagine why Apple doesn't wise up and sell these people iPhones...probably has to do with their 3G/"4G" bands not being supported worldwide.
I don't mind using an AT&T phone on T-Mo, knowing that it is a strong possibility they could be bought by AT&T soon...I will likely just wind up having to switch it over at that point anyway, which will work just fine.

My network choice is T-Mobile, hands down. My phone is the next priority, and both my iPhones did great on T-Mobile, even though I couldn't do 3G/4G with the iPhone. I recently switched to the myTouch 4G, and actually like it even better. I loved my iPhone, but I'm loving my new phone and Android even more, especially for my use (power user, productivity user). I just really love my T-Mobile, their customer focus, customer service, 4G speeds, and especially the overall value for my dollar.